The Medications Hunt, Page 6

What has this to do with acquiring affordable fertility medications?

Blum uses the UCI cases to demonstrate the dangerous connection between a vulnerable patient group and the fact that "you can't legislate morality."

Many UCI patients were actually involved in drug trials with the use of a non-FDA-approved fertility medicine without proper consent. The physicians involved had offered this route as a more cost-effective way of drug treatment.

One of the UCI physicians, Dr. Ricardo Asch, used a form of Pergonal which was approved only for use in other countries (not in the U.S.) in his attempts to, Blum says, "severely hyperstimulate his patients." Blum had one client who was stimulated up to producing 80 eggs in one cycle, and nearly lost her life. In these cases, Dr. Asch dispensed the medication himself at a discount to patients, rather than writing prescriptions for a pharmacy to fill.

In addition to seeking proper legal advice whenever a patient will be using egg or embryo donation, Blum recommends the following for patients who are looking for cost-effective ways to acquire meds:

  • If considering participation in a drug-trial, be prepared for and expect to sign a large number of documents. These documents are required by the funding organization (such as the National Institutes of Health, or NIH) and the research institute involved. If you have trouble understanding the documents, do not sign them until you do.
  • Be very wary of physicians who dispense medications themselves, rather than referring you to a pharmacist.
  • Run, don't walk, from "garage sales" of patients' unused medications. Blum knows of at least one patient who actually witnessed such an event.

To date, Blum knows that there are hundreds of couples who have lost their eggs or embryos to other couples, all without the knowledge of any patients involved. Her experience with the UCI case has changed her, she says.

"Patients have to look at the big picture when it comes to this field. The doctors involved in all of these cases were very charming, and patients trusted them."

Patients seeking fertility medications that they can afford face an uneasy journey. It can be difficult to walk a fine line between distrust of the medical practitioners to whom patients turn for family-building assistance and overly casual consumerism.

In an effort to emotionally survive this part of the journey, perhaps the best approach should be one of optimistic caution.

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